Today’s invention is a roof tile which has a water channel formed within it.
As tiles are placed overlapping each other, the outlet from one plugs into and seals to the inlet of the one below.
This allows water to be fed into the roof surface at the top and extracted from the bottom, after having absorbed large amounts of solar energy.
Today’s invention is based on people in wheelchairs carrying with them smartphones which can record or transmit their location.
These data would reflect, over time, those routes and destinations that enabled wheelchair access and could be overlaid onto eg Google StreetView (especially future versions which map the interiors of public buildings).
Areas which failed to be mapped would highlight regions from which wheelchair users were possibly being excluded.
Today’s invention is bicycle handlebars which can be reconfigured into many different styles.
The front forks are made of tubes in circular arcs. Other tubes are fitted telescopically inside these.
The interior ones can be pulled out almost completely, twisted through an angle and locked in place.
This allows, for example, a more upright riding position (A) or a much more aggressive racing pose (B) -as well as almost any other arrangement in between.
I’ve had some thoughts before about ways in which (dangerous) level crossings might be eliminated.
Today’s invention is in the same mould.
It consists of a train the carriages of which are joined by a hinge which can be moved from the base to the roof (pink dots).
The hinges are powered so that carriages can exert torque on each other.
As the train approaches a level crossing where a conventional vehicle is crossing (grey), so the train arches up and over the crossing as a bridge-shaped wave passes backwards through the train.
Today’s invention is a way for police to retain some kind of human appearance, even when they are wearing protective equipment in expectation of a riot.
Each officer would wear a safety helmet with a lifesize image of his own face affixed to the outside of his face shield.
He or she would still be able to see through eyeholes corresponding to those in the face image itself.
In this way, officers could remain fully protected but still display their identities -and thus be encouraged to behave in a responsible way.
This lack of anonymity would also enable members of a crowd to identify later in videos anyone in uniform who had been misbehaving.
Today’s invention is to create a paint tool for Gimp or Photoshop which contains information about paint drying behaviour.
One could specify the properties of the paint so that a realistic drying time would be simulated. This would allow ‘wet’ paint to be manipulated for a while on screen.
It would also be possible to have such virtual paint exhibit smart features, such as a tendency to mix more with some than other colours or to flow depending upon the simulated canvas’ local absorption properties.
Paint colour might even be allowed to change on subsequent viewings, so that a digital picture could bleach realistically when viewed years later.
Today’s invention is a vending machine which will make you a pair of rubber gloves in the shape of the astronaut’s hands which most closely resemble your own.
It seems that NASA astronauts have all had their hands moulded in plaster in order to create their gloves. The range of hand shapes and sizes is surprisingly large.
A customer would approach the machine, insert their hands onto a plate and have them scanned in 2D. The resulting data would allow a pair of gloves to be quickly selected and moulded in latex, using one of the fifty or so pairs of moulds held in each machine.
The name of the astronaut and his or her image would appear on the machine’s screen at the same time as the gloves were dispensed, a few minutes later.
The TV remote control in a typical hotel room is considered dirtier than the toilet, sink handles, door handles, and even the bedspread.
Today’s invention removes the bacterial infection problem by offering a remote which is operated by one’s feet.
This would take the form of a footstool with a number of big buttons in the surface, modeled after a simplified remote and operable with shoes still on.
The stool would allow the actual remote to be inserted into a slot and there would be direct mechanical links between pressing the pedals and the buttons on the embedded remote.
Where to put a new road is a major planning decision.
Today’s invention aims to make road network building more of an experimental science.
The basic unit of this approach would be a prefabricated tunnel module, as shown. This would be like a pontoon bridge but land-based and installed off the back of a low loader using a crane. Once in position, the road surface inside could be covered with a thin coat of tarmacadam and the exterior painted to blend in with the surroundings.
It would have a translucent section in the roof and solar powered lamps for night driving. There would also be sound and thermal insulation, as well as filters to absorb the worst exhaust pollutants before allowing air to circulate into the atmosphere.
A new section of road, made of these modules, could thus be tried out for a fixed period to see if it was working for all parties concerned. It might then be replaced by a conventional road, or allowed to remain as is, or moved to another trial site.
Today’s invention is a metal collar, forming part of a candelabrum and which allows for less wasteful use of candles.
A candle (yellow) is fitted into an insulated base (grey).
Once lit, the candle heats an overhanging metal plate which is bonded to the candelabrum base (white).
The base contains a candle-shaped mould with a wick inserted (orange). This is heated by the action of the candle so that the run-off wax gradually fills the mould and creates a new, albeit smaller, candle (which itself can then be placed in the base and reused, etc).
